Faced with the twin problems of rising costs and a growing deficit, how to get more value out of what the nation spends on healthcare was the hot topics at the National Health Insurance Civic Surveil-lance's (NHISCA) one-day forum on Wednesday.
Currently, care providers are paid by the National Health Insurance (NHI) according to the amount of medical services they administer.
Experts argued that this hurts incentives and results in substandard medical outcomes.
"We have to expect self-interested behavior," said National Yang-Ming University's associate professor Lee Yue-chune (李玉春).
"As long as we only pay for service, we are going to have problems with overmedicalization and not enough attention on preventative care," he said.
Lee said the trend in OECD nations is toward paying for performance rather than services.
She added that by "putting patients into diagnosis-related groups (DRG), we can compare the efficiency of medical care providers more transparently."
Another topic discussed was the NHI's pharmaceutical policy.
In a recent move to curb costs, the NHI lowered the price it pays for drugs across the board, with the exception of drugs which are still under patent.
"The NHI has too much power over which drugs are allowed or not allowed on the market" said Huang Weng-foung (
"We need more options for those who wish to pay out of their own pockets," Huang added.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Jung-chang (
However, there might be a limit to what efficiency-increasing and loophole-closing measures can do for the NHI.
"The US spends roughly 15 percent of its GDP on medical care while we spend only six percent," said Department of Health Deputy Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中).
"We need to seriously look at whether we're investing enough in the health of our nation," Chen said.
"We know it is inevitable that medical care costs will rise," Wang said. "But people will only willingly open their pockets when they trust that the extra money they pay will be put to good use."
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
RSS